Into the Fray

[Catherine Kelly]

"Holy Hell..."

A momentary thought of if Hell could actually be Holy came and went as it was overwhelmed by the heat that seemed to smack square into her. She had heard that Los Angeles was hot in the Summer, but it wasn't technically Summer just yet and... Jesus Christ who decided to make a city in the middle of the god damn desert anyway?

The elderly woman behind her on the enclosed walkway let out a laugh. "First time here?"

Catherine looked over her shoulder at the wrinkled woman in over-sized aviator sunglasses and a loudly colored blouse. She put on her best smile and nodded. "Yep, how can you tell?"

The woman chuckled again as they both continued up the ramp. "Oh, you just remind me of myself the first time I came here. Only that was in the Winter. Can you believe it can get to be around thirty degrees near Christmas some times?"

Catherine made a bit of a face and cringed. "That's just evil."

They continued their polite exchanges until they made it back inside of the air conditioned air port and wished each other the best before going their separate ways... only to see each other again at customs and then again at baggage claim. She almost considered offering to share a cab drive with the woman but when the happy smiling family pulled up to the excited shouts of "Grandma!", Catherine had to finally wave goodbye to the nice old woman she had just met. From what she'd been told it was going to be the last polite stranger she was probably going to see again.

For now there was just a taxi ride to her hotel, a nap to recover from jet lag, maybe a little seeing of what Los Angeles nightlife had to offer... and then would begin the real reason she was there: trying to get some answers... preferably from others with her condition who would actually care unlike the people who had made her offers at home who probably saw those with the x-gene as nothing more than glorified lab rats.